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Sep. 15th, 2007 09:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
We have to start A.'s religious education. The other day, when I blurted out "Oh, my God!" because his sister was rocking the recliner maniacally while she was standing in it, ready to tip--A. corrected me: "Oh my Godzilla!"
The problem is Mrs. Malkhos and her family would look askance at me if I began meals by libating to Apollo.

The problem is Mrs. Malkhos and her family would look askance at me if I began meals by libating to Apollo.

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Date: 2007-09-16 06:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-16 06:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-17 04:25 pm (UTC)This is really off the wall, but I wonder if Godzilla is so ... bottom heavy for the same reason sumo wrestlers are supposed to be. IOW, it's an expression of power and strong connection to the earth.
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Date: 2007-09-17 06:37 pm (UTC)There's a lot of stuff in Godzilla films and anime we miss because we aren't familiar with Japanese culture (to the extent that we aren't). For example I remember Spriedel and Trixie throwing up their arms and, on the Dubbed English soundtrack, shouting yay! when Speed won a race. But watching the same thing now with A., its obvious they're shouting banzai! Godzilla makes the same gesture at one point in his fight with King Kong. There must be many other such subtleties.
Incidently I've been saving these for you for a while, I guess this is as good a time as any to pass them on:
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Date: 2007-09-17 08:20 pm (UTC)I am verklempt! Thank you! I think I will go post these on
:goes off to take cold shower:
OK, now back to Gojira:
Our kids went through a looooong anime phase, including peripatetic study of Japanese, etc. and so we picked up a bit of Japanese culture here and there. We got very interested in kaiju ("monster") movies, and were really fortunate to be able to see Gojira in the original uncut Japanese awhile back.
Have you seen it? It was like seeing a whole other movie, needless to say. The hospital scene was very moving, especially without all the interspersed Raymond Burr footage.
All through it you get this strong sense that Gojira is this "force of nature" - he's not good or evil; he's just been awoken by human stupidity, and humans pay the price. There is a strong streak of fatalism throughout.
I just thought of the sumotori because I remembered how they trained, with great emphasis on leg and rear end strength as well as arms and back. The whole point is to have a very low center of mass, so not to be toppled off balance easily. It's very "chthonic," and in some ways so is Gojira.
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Date: 2007-09-18 03:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-18 02:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-18 04:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-16 07:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-17 04:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-18 02:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-19 06:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-26 10:31 pm (UTC)The classic example of this is that if you were to be standing at the window, see a car in the street, look away and look back, and see the car is down the street, you eyes would tell you to conclude, and rightly so, "The car moved." Now--if you were to be looking out the window and see the sun straight overhead, go take a nap for four hours, rise, and see the sun further west in the sky, you might want to conclude, erroneously of course, that the sun moved because this is what your eyes tell you. So sense perception may not always lead you to the truth.